Defectives, Epileptics: United States. Massachusetts. Palmer. State Hospital for Epileptics: Interior of laundry, 1907. 1907

Editor: This photograph, “Defectives, Epileptics: United States. Massachusetts. Palmer. State Hospital for Epileptics: Interior of laundry, 1907” by Woodhead Studio, is stark. The rows of workers in the laundry are unsettling. What does this image tell us about the social context of the time? Curator: It speaks volumes. Consider the title itself. The dehumanizing language reflects early 20th-century attitudes towards disability. Hospitals like this, intended as places of care, also functioned as institutions of social control. The image documents an environment where labor was both therapy and a form of confinement. How does that influence your reading of the photograph? Editor: I see how it highlights the complex, and often contradictory, role of institutions in shaping lives and perceptions. Curator: Precisely. It’s a sobering reminder of how societal biases can be embedded within seemingly benign systems.